The World Bank Group have discussed a new five-year Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Ghana for 2022 to 2026. The CPF prioritises investments in human capital, job creation, economic diversification, building a resilient health system, and fostering a greener and more inclusive society.
Ghana has achieved considerable economic and social progress in the past 30 years. It achieved middle-income status in 2011 because of strong, sustained economic growth, averaging over 5 per cent since the early 1990s. This was supported by a stable democracy and driven largely by gold and cocoa exports and the development of substantial oil and gas reserves. It achieved the first Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty from 52.7 per cent in 1993 to 23.4 per cent in 2016. However, the pace of poverty reduction has slowed in recent years, and inequalities in some areas continue, particularly in some northern areas of the country.
The CPF will support Ghana in its COVID-19 and medium-term development agenda. It is designed around three mutually reinforcing focus areas, namely:
- Enhancing Conditions for Private Sector Development and Quality Job Creation;
- Improving Inclusive Service Delivery; and
- Promoting Resilient and Sustainable Development.
Exploiting the opportunities of digital transformation will be a cross-cutting theme. The $4.5 bn CPF was prepared jointly by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
“The World Bank Group is happy to support Ghana’s economic recovery plan. The CPF is aligned with Ghana’s Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies and will support the Government of Ghana in creating a competitive environment for the private sector to flourish and play a greater role in job creation particularly for youth,” said Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
“The World Bank Group, through the CPF, will also support policies and programmes that aim to strengthen digital transformation for improved service delivery and productivity, improve governance, and promote greater inclusion, including strengthening women’s economic empowerment.”
The social and economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis has been significant. Ghana was one of the earliest countries in Africa to announce social distancing measures, including school closures and cancelling of mass gatherings, complemented by aggressive testing and recently a strong vaccination programme.
These measures – whilst saving lives – came at a heavy economic cost in the immediate term. The CPF will address the immediate as well as medium-term implications of the COVID-19 crisis in line with the Ghana Coronavirus Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprises Support programme and lay a path on how the World Bank, IFC, and MIGA, will leverage their relative strengths to partner with Ghana for stronger development outcomes.
“IFC will continue to work closely with the Government of Ghana and the private sector to provide investment and advisory services for expanding access to finance for micro, small, and medium enterprises, enhancing agribusiness growth and productivity, and supporting Ghana’s sustainable industrialisation for secure jobs,”said Kyle Kelhofer, IFC Senior Country Manager for Benin, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
“The CPF focuses on improving the investment climate and enacting regulatory reforms. Succeeding in these reforms would be critical for accelerating private sector development,” said Merli Baroudi, MIGA’s Director of Economics and Sustainability.
The CPF will move towards larger and more cohesive and transformational interventions, potentially across multiple sectors, that align closely to strong government programmes and with greater use of results-based financing, where appropriate. It is designed to be flexible, especially during its early years of implementation, with an early review of progress to accommodate needed changes for a post COVID-19 recovery.
Learn More: The World Bank in Ghana | The World Bank in Africa
